-- A Stanford graduate student missing for five days was found dead today in the trunk of her compact car in Santa Rosa, and may have taken her own life, police said.
But her father, who learned of the death from reporters and complained of little information from Santa Rosa or Stanford police, said tonight he doubted her death was a suicide.
"My daughter was very organized,'' said Yitong Zhou of San Diego. "If she had wanted to commit suicide, she would have sent some kind of indication. I don't see any evidence there, any indication she was depressed.''
His daugher, Mengyao "May" Zhou, a 23-year-old graduate student in electrical engineering, disappeared after leaving her on-campus home Saturday, telling friends she was completing errands.
Santa Rosa Junior College police officers found her car at about 3:30 a.m. today in a parking lot near the school's planetarium. Santa Rosa police had it towed to an undisclosed location and opened the trunk, finding the body.
Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said the cause of death "may have been a suicide" and that "there were some items in the vehicle that would be consistent with a suicide.'' Banayat said the car had been in the lot since at least Sunday.
Police offered few other details.
Banayat would not disclose the items found in the trunk nor say whether a suicide note or any medications had been among them. She said that the trunk and the doors of Zhou's silver 2006 Toyota Corolla were locked and did not appear to have been tampered with.
"We do not know why she chose to come to Santa Rosa," Banayat said. "I don't know what in her life may have led her to this."
Yitong Zhou said in a telephone interview Thursday night from his San Diego home that police told him earlier that his daughter's car had been found but had not notified him of her death. He also said he was unaware that authorities considered it a possible suicide.
Her father said May was happy at Stanford, where she was a second-year graduate student and a doctoral candidate. He said his daughter, who had bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, held three or four patents on devices related to digital imaging technology.
He said he could not think of a reason why his daughter would drive to Santa Rosa, and did not think she knew anyone in the area.
"My daughter doesn't like to drive too far,'' he said. "She drives as little as possible.''
May was the eldest of two daughters, said Zhou, a software engineer. He said he, his wife, and youngest daughter were inudated by media calls Thursday but wanted to release as little personal information as possible.
Although police suspect the death was a suicide, Sgt. Banayat said investigators are not ruling out a homicide.
"We're not ruling out anything,'' she said.
The investigation into Zhou's disappearance and death is continuing with police from the Stanford, Santa Rosa Junior College and Santa Rosa city departments involved. The Sonoma County coroner's office will conduct an autopsy today to determine the cause of death.
